Martina Navratilova
| died = | hometown = Prague, Czechoslovakia | knownfor = Retired tennis player | season = Dancing with the Stars 14 | partner = Tony Dovolani | place = 12 | highestscore = 20 (Foxtrot) | lowestscore = 17 (Jive) | averagescore = 18.5 }} Martina Navrátilová (neé Martina Šubertivá) is a celebrity from Season 14 of Dancing with the Stars. Early Life Navratilova was born Martina Šubertová in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Her parents divorced when she was three, and her mother, an accomplished gymnast, tennis player, and ski instructor, moved the family to Řevnice. In 1962, her mother Jana married Miroslav Navrátil, who became her first tennis coach. Martina then took the name of her stepfather (adding the feminine suffix "ová"), thus becoming Martina Navrátilová (Czech pronunciation: ˈnavraːcɪlovaː). Her father, Mirek, was a ski instructor and remarried and divorced. When she was eight, he committed suicide. In 2008, Navratilova's mother died of emphysema, aged 75. Navratilova has a sister, Jana, and an older paternal half-brother. Navratilova's grandmother, Agnes Semanska, was a tennis player for the Czechoslovakian Federation before the Second World War and had a ranking as high as no. 2 among Czech women during her amateur career. Playing Style Navratilova has an attacking serve and volley. Under Renee Richards, she improved her game tactics. Evert said that "Martina revolutionized the game by her superb athleticism and aggressiveness...She brought athleticism to a whole new level with her training techniques — particularly cross-training, the idea that you could go to the gym or play basketball to get in shape for tennis." Coaching Career In December 2014, it was announced that Navratilova had joined Agnieszka Radwańska's coaching staff. However, in April 2015, after Radwańska struggled in the first half of the season, the pair decided to part ways. Author In 1985, Navratilova released an autobiography, co-written with The New York Times sports columnist George Vecsey, titled Martina in the U.S. and Being Myself in the rest of the world. She had earlier co-written a tennis instruction book with Mary Carillo in 1982, entitled Tennis My Way. She later wrote three mystery novels with Liz Nickles: The Total Zone (1994), Breaking Point (1996), and Killer Instinct (1997).40 Navratilova's most recent literary effort was a health and fitness book entitled Shape Your Self, which came out in 2006. Activism and Opinions When not playing tennis, Navratilova is involved with various charities that benefit animal rights, underprivileged children, and gay rights. She participated in a lawsuit against Amendment 2, a 1992 ballot proposition in Colorado designed to deny gays and lesbians legal protection from discrimination. In 1993, she spoke before the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. She also serves as the Health and Fitness Ambassador for AARP in an alliance created to help AARP's millions of members lead active, healthy lives. In 2000, she was the recipient of National Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian activist/lobbying group. A vegetarian, Navratilova appeared in ad campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In an April 2006 interview, however, she said she had recently begun eating fish again because she found it hard to get enough protein while on the road; which would make her a pescetarian rather than a vegetarian; nevertheless in 2008 she described herself as vegetarian. She has spoken out on a number of volatile political issues, including tort/litigation reform, but perhaps her most consistent theme - aside from gay and lesbian rights - has been her unstinting opposition to Communism, and unrelenting opposition to the former Eastern Bloc power structure that compelled her to flee her native Czechoslovakia. She has denounced the Soviet Union's control over Czechoslovakia, maintaining that she refuses to speak Russian to this day because of the Soviet Union's former hegemony over Eastern Europe. "Whenever people go into politics and they try to say that Communism was a good thing, I say, 'Go ahead and live in a Communist country then, if you think it's so great'." Navratilova was a guest on CNN's Connie Chung Tonight show on 17 July 2002. During the show, Chung quoted a German newspaper which quoted Navratilova as saying: "The most absurd part of my escape from the unjust system is that I have exchanged one system that suppresses free opinion for another. The Republicans in the U.S. manipulate public opinion and sweep controversial issues under the table. It's depressing. Decisions in America are based solely on the question of how much money will come out of it and not on the questions of how much health, morals or environment suffer as a result." Navratilova said that the remarks referred to what she perceived as a trend of centralization of government power and a loss of personal freedom. In the discussion that followed, Chung stated: "Can I be honest with you? I can tell you that when I read this, I have to tell you that I thought it was un-American, unpatriotic. I wanted to say, go back to Czechoslovakia. You know, if you don't like it here, this a country that gave you so much, gave you the freedom to do what you want." Navratilova responded, "And I'm giving it back. This is why I speak out. When I see something that I don't like, I'm going to speak out because you can do that here. And again, I feel there are too many things happening that are taking our rights away." Navratilova was quoted in 2007 as being ashamed of the US under President George W. Bush because unlike the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, Bush was elected. Media In 1996, Navratilova was featured with American football player Art Monk in an endorsement for PowerBook in an ad series "What's on Your PowerBook?" In November 2008, Martina Navratilova appeared on the UK's ITV series Series 8 of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!; she finished runner-up to Joe Swash. Navratilova guest-starred as a dissatisfied Yelp reviewer in episode three of the third season of absurdist comedy, Portlandia. Personal Life In 1981, shortly after becoming a United States citizen, Navratilova gave an interview to New York Daily News sports reporter Steve Goldstein, coming out as bisexual and revealing that she had a sexual relationship with Rita Mae Brown, but asked him not to publish the article until she was ready to come out publicly. However, the New York Daily News published the article 30 July 1981. Navratilova and Nancy Lieberman, her girlfriend at the time, gave an interview to Dallas Morning News columnist Skip Bayless, where Navratilova reiterated that she was bisexual and Lieberman identified herself as straight. Navratilova has since identified herself as a lesbian. From 1984 to 1991, Navratilova had a long-term relationship with Judy Nelson, whom she met at a tournament in Fort Worth in 1982. Their split in 1991 included a much-publicized legal wrangle. Navratilova was featured in a WITA (Women's International Tennis Association) calendar, shot by Jean Renard with her Wimbledon trophies and Nelson's children in the background. Navratilova proposed to her longtime girlfriend Julia Lemigova at the US Open 6 September 2014. They married 15 December 2014 in New York. Health Problems Navratilova announced 7 April 2010 that she was being treated for breast cancer. A routine mammogram in January 2010 revealed that she had a ductal carcinoma in situ in her left breast, of which she was informed 24 February, and in March she had the tumor surgically removed; she received radiation therapy in May. In December 2010, Navratilova was hospitalized after developing high altitude pulmonary edema while attempting a climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Dancing with the Stars 14 In February 2012 Navratilova was announced as a cast member on the 14th season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with Tony Dovolani, but they were the first pair eliminated. Scores Trivia * Navratilova is one of a few cancer survivors that have participated in the show; others include Brooke Burke, Jennifer Grey, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Gallery Martina_&_Tony_S14.jpg Martina_Navratilova_14.jpeg Category:Females Category:Contestants Category:Season 14 contestants Category:Athletes Category:Olympians